Tech jobs near all-time high as Region's jobless rate hits 6.8%

OTTAWA, ONT. - May 7, 2009 - A sign advertising help wanted in a bagel shop along Richmond Rd. -

Photograph by: Wayne Cuddington
, Ottawa Citizen

Perhaps the biggest surprise from Statistics Canada’s jobs reports over the past year has been the consistent surge in high-tech employment in the National Capital Region.

The federal agency revealed Friday that the number of tech jobs steadied at 68,300 in April — the same as in March. However, this is about 20,000 higher than in April, 2013 — a rather stunning, and puzzling, one-year rise.

“I think if the sector was growing that rapidly, we’d know about it,” said Rich McBee, CEO of Mitel Networks (which employs about 600 in the Ottawa area). “We don’t see it.”

There’s little doubt the sector is expanding — the question is to what degree. “We see growth across almost all of the six sectors we track,” said Bruce Lazenby, chief executive of Invest Ottawa, an economic development agency. “Most of the larger tech companies are hiring locally even as they lay off globally. The talent pool here is deep and big companies know it.”

Lazenby adds that more than 1,000 tech firms across the region have fewer than 50 employees. “If they hire 10 people each, that’s 10,000 jobs,” he said.

If the tech employment numbers do prove accurate, it would mean the April total was just 2,100 shy of the October 2007 peak reached just prior to Nortel Network’s meltdown and 4,100 below the all-time peak achieved in May 2000 during the telecom boom.

The National Capital Region is not the only urban area adding tech jobs. The country’s 27 largest cities combined have seen their tech employment rise about six per cent year-over-year to 587,000 workers in April. That’s just 1.7 per cent shy of the May 2001 peak.

Over the past year (April vs. April), Toronto added nearly 31,000 tech workers for an increase of 20.5 per cent. While Ottawa-Gatineau added fewer high-tech employees, the percentage increase was more than double that of Toronto.

Two surprises were Montreal (down 22,200 or nearly 17 per cent) and Kitchener-Waterloo (which shed 2,700 tech workers or 14.5 per cent). Indeed, for all the talk about Kitchener-Waterloo becoming Canada’s entrepreneurial hot spot, the National Capital Region has four times as many tech employees.

Overall, the National Capital Region’s jobless rate increased to 6.8 per cent in April from 6.6 per cent in March as employment levels slipped by 1,800 jobs. The labour force, which includes those looking for work, remained about the same at 750,800, Statistics Canada reported Friday.

Most of the weakness was evident on the Ottawa side of the river where the jobless rate jumped to 6.9 per cent in April from 6.5 per cent in March. In Gatineau, unemployment remained steady at 6.7 per cent. It’s the first time since last October that Ottawa’s jobless rate was higher. These numbers — unlike those for individual job sectors — are adjusted for seasonal influences.

Part of the explanation for difference could lie in government job shifts. The number of civil servants in the region, somewhat surprisingly, increased 2,600 from March to reach 143,200. A higher percentage of Gatineau’s workforce is in government compared to Ottawa.

It was the first significant monthly rise in this category since the fall of 2012 — though employment levels remain about 10,000 below where they were a year ago.

The increase in public administration jobs was evident across all levels of government. The federal government accounted for nearly half the rise. In April, there were 121,800 federal employees in the National Capital Region. That’s still down significantly from 134,000 in April, 2013.

Most other job sectors in Ottawa-Gatineau were fairly steady in April compared to March, according to StatsCan. Construction lost 2,300 (eight per cent) while finance, insurance & real estate services added 2,500 (up eight per cent)

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